Stormers 34-19 Munster: Hosts move off bottom spot in URC by beating Irish province

The Stormers moved off the bottom of the United Rugby Championship table as two Ruhan Nel tries helped earn a 34-19 victory over Munster in an entertaining though error-ridden contest in Cape Town.

Suleiman Hartzenberg’s intercept try as he ran from Munster’s 22 gave the Stormers a sixth-minute 7-0 lead.

But the visitors were 12-7 up by the 27th minute as Tom Farrell’s try, after Shane Daly charged down a Damian Willemse clearance, was followed by replacement hooker Eoghan Clarke’s score.

However the Stormers’ pack dominated the remainder of the first half as Marcel Theunissen’s try gave them a 14-12 interval advantage, with Willemse slotting his second conversion.

Although both line-outs continued to badly malfunction, the Stormers maintained their superiority immediately after the break with Nel’s first try increasing their lead to 21-12 as fly-half Willemse again added the extras.

Back row replacement Gavin Coombes’ introduction noticeably boosting the visitors and his touchdown – converted by Crowley – cut the Stormers’ lead to 21-19 with 12 minutes remaining.

However man of the match Willemse closed out the game as his 74th-minute penalty was quickly followed by his drop goal with Munster not helping themselves by botching two restarts, with replacement Billy Burns and Crowley both failing to reach the required 10 metres.

Nel’s injury-time try compounded Munster’s misery as they came away with nothing despite scoring three tries in what was their third defeat in five games this season.

The Stormers’ win moved them up five places to 11th in the 16-team table, one spot behind Munster.